


Disturbing the Universe

by coolbyrne



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Slibbs Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21939169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbyrne/pseuds/coolbyrne
Summary: Jack decides another Christmas with Gibbs won't pass without her doing something about whatever it is between them. Slibbs
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 30
Kudos: 117





	Disturbing the Universe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [viceversa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/viceversa/gifts).



> This is for the Slibbs Secret Santa prompt, and my gift to viceversa. It is using her prompt, "Dare I disturb the universe?" from the T.S Eliot poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". The line about the coffee is from the same poem. Also, I have no idea what Jack's middle name is, so I went with the first letter of the alphabet. :) I'll edit later if we ever find out. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Prompt was the quote: “Do I dare disturb the universe.”

…..

He wondered if she knew how beautiful she was, the way her smile lit up the room and anyone who was lucky enough to be the recipient of it. Her red dress had just enough green to make it festive rather than seductive, though he had seen a half a dozen men and a few women admire the holiday cheer. He watched her make her way around, giving each person her undivided attention, and he smiled to himself, wondering how many of them she was privately profiling, wondering how many of them knew she measured her trust by how much she touched. Leon got a gentle pat on his chest, Ed from Accounting got a simple nod. When she had come around to his little corner of the office Christmas party, she had sat beside him and tugged his jacket cuff as her way of getting his attention, as if she didn't have it, every moment, undivided. He had made some snide comment about there not being enough alcohol in the punch to make the party palatable, and she had slapped his chest with the back of her hand, then dropped it lightly onto his thigh. The heat still burned into his skin long after she had gotten up at Kasie’s arrival, welcoming the new scientist to her first Christmas at NCIS. The younger woman beamed, and Jack gently guided her to different groups around the room where everyone who didn’t know Kasie introduced themselves before Jack had a chance, because the line of thought was, if someone was a friend of Jack’s, then they were good people worth knowing. Those who knew Kasie grinned and offered their holiday wishes, and Jack watched on like a proud parent. 

She would’ve made a good mother. They might have made good parents together. But as often the case, life had other plans. He thought maybe- this time- there were plans that included her. If only he could find the courage to tempt Fate, to look past the pain and the people he lost and just let himself love her.

_Ah, Gunny, you’ve got that last part down pat already._

His knees creaked when he stood and his eyes rose to the skylight overhead when Bishop raised her eyebrows. She offered a quick nod, accepting her role as either informant or buffer, depending on who was doing the asking. He nodded back, thankful for the reprieve. Stealthily, considering his size, he slipped up the back stairs, through the maintenance room and up the ladder to the rooftop. The chair and umbrella of his hiding spot were replaced by the cold, but he welcomed the cool air into his lungs. The city’s bright lights took over much of the dark and he couldn’t remember the last time he had seen a true night sky. Before his cynicism could catch any air, he felt, rather than heard, her behind him.

“You lasted longer than I thought.”

His short chuckle billowed in the air. “Just needed a change of scenery.”

She stood beside him, crossing her arms and rubbing her shoulders. “Mmmm. Got tired of looking at me, did you?”

The fact that she knew the entire time that she was under his gaze shouldn’t have surprised him, but as usual, her playful sarcasm made him do a double-take. She filled in the silence of his non-reply by shrugging in agreement.

“The stars _are_ a better view.”

“No.”

He watched her profile turn back to him. “Is that a ‘no’ to the question or the comment?”

Rather than answer, he slipped off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “Gonna catch your death.”

“Did you see me walk from the door to here in these heels? _That_ was death-defying.” 

Her gaze went back out into the city but his stayed on her. His hand came up to brush back a strand of hair caught in the light breeze, but when her eyes caught his, the touch dropped to his jacket where he pretended to fix the collar. 

“Any plans for Christmas?”

He shrugged at the question, not having given the day much thought beyond doing what he had done every year.

Not every year, his memory chimed in, reminding him of a previous Christmas shared with a beautiful woman and a good whiskey. He deftly skipped over the first part of the duo and asked about the second.

“Got any of that whiskey left?”

“It was a small batch.” Her mouth twitched. “But I might have stashed away an emergency ration.”

He grinned. “You got plans for Christmas?”

The snow began to fall in big flakes that made her raise her face to the sky, close her eyes and smile. “Yeah, I think I do.” His disappointment was curbed by the smile that was meant just for him. Her eyes met his and her hand went to his wrist, catching a finger on his watch band. He wondered if she could feel his pulse quicken at the base of his thumb.

“What’s that?” he asked, trying to get his emotions on even ground again.

“I think I’m going to disturb the universe.”

He frowned his confusion and her other hand came up to smooth the line between his eyes, her thumb brushing up and down before outlining his right eyebrow. The touch was soft but the intent was clear as she slid her palm down his cheek and traced over his mouth with that very same thumb before replacing it with her lips. The air was cool but she was warm, from her lips to her hands to her body that she leaned flush against him, caution and hesitation thrown to the wind. He waited for a second for his head to clear, to make sense of what she was doing, but quickly realized that a moment of clarity wasn’t coming; his brain refused to interrupt the signals that were going everywhere else. His body hummed at being given the green light to pull her in even tighter, to kiss her even fiercer, and the soft moan she breathed across his lips only urged him on. Her hand curled up around his ear and gripped his cropped hair and he could feel her hold around his wrist tighten as he surrounded her with his frame, arching her back with his kiss. 

“Did I mention these heels are death traps?” she smiled against his mouth. 

He opened his eyes and realized just how far he had her bowed, her pelvis fused with his, even as his shoulders had pushed her back.

“‘Dare I disturb the universe’,” he said, acknowledging her earlier quote. “T.S. Elliot.” He looked into warm brown eyes that were filled with mischievous disturbance. “What the hell did he know?”

Though he brought her back to stand full height, she tilted her head back and laughed. “Right. What the hell did he know? Though you do surprise me, Cowboy. Never took you as a poetry man.”

He watched as the snow dotted her hair and her eyelashes and wondered about all the good he must’ve done in his life. “‘I have measured out my life with coffee spoons’.”

She smiled at his recall. “Now _that_ , I believe.” Still surrounded by his embrace, her fingers traced the line of the buttons down his shirt and she seemed to weigh her words before saying, "I didn’t want to wait until Christmas to see how things played out. 'Life's too short for love, and too long to wait'."

He cocked his head. "Don’t know that one."

"J.A. Sloane," she said with a small smile. "I don't want to wait, Gibbs. I just want to love."

Her bravery billowed from her lips into the cold and he didn't know why he was surprised she'd be the one to dare Fate to break her heart. In so many ways, she was always the stronger of the two. Hoping it was enough, he slipped both hands into her hair and poured his feelings into a kiss. His mouth offered promises he could never put into words and her arms curled up his back and accepted them. The air chilled them both, which only pushed their bodies closer, which only made their moans lower. It was only when her wandering hand untucked a small space between his shirt and his pants was the moment broken. 

"Jesus!" His slight jump at her cold touch on his warm skin had her laughing again and he wondered why he had wasted so much time. He was worried about losing her when loss was always a possibility. He was worried about loving her when love was always an inevitability. She was willing to disturb the universe; it seemed only fair he helped her shake it up a little.

…..


End file.
